Australian HiFi – May 2019

LAB REPORT

32 Australian Hi-Fi

ON TEST

http://www.aushifi.com

on this album, the other seven are all jazz
standards—albeit really only ‘standards’ if
you have jazz credentials) where Rollinson’s
distinctive guitar playing reminded me a bit
of Steve Bryant’s, but from a listening point
of view, it was the joy of hearing the octaves
and fifths delivered pitch-perfect by the
Revels, along with the crisp dynamism of the
guitar sound. You’ll love the trio’s take on
Blind Willie Nelson’s Dark was the Night, Cold
was the Ground... coincidentally yet another
song title I wish I’d thought of!
Could the Revel Performa F228Be speakers
be improved? I was totally happy with their
sound quality, but I would have really liked it
if Revel had included on the F228Be the ‘Low
Frequency Compensation’ switch from the
F-208 that can be used to reduce the speakers’
bass response when they’re operated close to
a boundary. OK, so my room is large enough
that I didn’t have to have the speakers close
to any boundary, but that may not be true for
all potential buyers. I would also have liked it
if Revel had included the ‘Tweeter Level’ con-
trol from the F-208 that allows you to adjust
tweeter level over a 2dB range in five incre-
ments... not because I wasn’t happy with the
high-frequency balance of the F228Bes, but
because it would have helped in situations
which required a less than ideal position for
the speakers in the listening room. Maybe
Revel figures that if you can afford a pair of
F228Bes you’ll be putting them in a room
that’s large enough that you won’t need to
make any adjustments.

ConClusion
Since it seemed inevitable that readers will
compare the almost-identically-sized and
almost identical-looking F-208 with this new
F228Be design I thought I should address
the elephant in the room in my conclusion,
which is that despite the similarities, and
the fact that the two models have the same
number of drivers, and those drivers are iden-
tically-sized, Revel says the two models share
no component parts... that the F228Be is a
completely new design that uses materials
that were not available when the F-208 was
designed almost six years ago.
But does this mean that Revel F228Be is
a better speaker than the Revel F-208? The
simple answer is that yes, I do think the Revel
F228Be is a ‘better’ speaker than the Revel
F-208. But I say that not because it is a newer
speaker, and most certainly not because it’s a
more expensive speaker, but because I think
the Revel F228Be sounds a bit more natural
across the midrange, images a tad more real-
istically, has somewhat superior bass, slightly
more uniform directivity and a rather more
extended high-frequency response.

contactdetails

Brand: Revel

Model: F228Be

RRP: $18,995.perpair

Warranty: FiveYears

Distributor: ConvoyInternationalPtyLtd

Address: Unit2, 314 HorsleyRoad

MilperraNSW 2214

T: (02) 97749900

E: [email protected]

W: http://www.convoy.com.au

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Theonlybadnewsis theaskingprice,which

is nearlytwicetherecommendedretailprice

oftheRevelF-208.

Butontheflipside,thegoodnewsis that

if youcan’taffordtheRevelPerformaF228Be,

there’salwaystheRevelF-208. Sam Riggs

to 30Hz, so the –3dB point is essentially

at 30Hz.

A detailed plot of the Revel F228Be’s

high-frequency response is shown in

Graph 2, with the detail enabled by New-

port Test Lab’s use of a different measure-

ment technique, one that is effectively

the response the speaker would deliver

in an anechoic chamber. It shows the

response both with the loudspeaker grille

in place, and without it, and you can see

that the flatter, more-extended response is

delivered without the grille being present

(black trace), such that without the grille

the high-frequency response is 3dB down

at 23kHz, whereas with the grille fitted it

rolls off a little sooner, to be 3dB down

at 17kHz, though it stays 3dB down right

out to 21kHz. You can see that both traces

continue to roll off until 30kHz, after

which they rise to the tweeter’s resonant

peak at 37kHz... a peak that’s suitably

well-damped. As the trace tracks up to this

peak you can see a very tiny resonance at

around 32kHz.

The low-frequency performance of

the Revel F228Be is shown in Graph 3,

with the lab this time using a nearfield

measurement technique that simulates

the result the speaker would deliver in an

anechoic chamber. You can see that it’s

the front-firing port that delivers most

of the output at frequencies below 45Hz,

as the low-frequency output of the twin

bass drivers begins rolling off at 60Hz. The

acoustic outputs of the bass and midrange

drivers are both 6dB down at around

230Hz, a bit lower than the electrical

crossover point of 260Hz. You can see the

output of the midrange driver (blue trace)

is exceptionally flat and extended indeed.

Remember when looking at this graph

that you’re looking at ‘raw’ SPL levels—

the lab has not post-processed the data to

adjust for the differences in the diameters

of the sound sources.

The impedance modulus of the Revel

F228Be suggests that it should nominally

be rated as being a 4Ω system, and indeed

it should be rated as such according to

IEC 60268-5 (16.1). You can see that not

only does the impedance remain below

8Ω from 20Hz right out to 800Hz, but

it also drops to around 3.4Ω between

80Hz and 100Hz, and to 3.5Ω at around

280Hz. There’s also a bit of a challenge for

amplifiers just below 400Hz, where the

impedance is just 5Ω and the phase angle

(light blue trace) is around +40°... a pretty

challenging load. Revel should either not

be specifying the Revel F228Be with a

nominal impedance of 8Ω or specifying

lABoRAToRy

TEsT

REPoRT

Readers interested in a full technical appraisal of

the performance of the Revel F228Be Loudspeakers

should continue on and read the LABORATORY

REPORT published on the following pages. Readers

should note that the results mentioned in the report,

tabulated in performance charts and/or displayed us-

ing graphs and/or photographs should be construed

as applying only to the specific sample tested.

Newport Test Labs measured the overall fre-

quency response of the Revel F228Be as being

30Hz to 22kHz ±3dB, which is an excellent

result, even though it’s not quite the 27Hz to

44kHz –6dB that is claimed by Revel in its spec-

ifications.

Graph 1 shows the room response of the

Revel F228Be, as measured by Newport Test

Labs using pink noise as a test stimulus, where

the graph shown is the averaged result of nine

measurements made in a grid with the centre

of the grid on-axis with the tweeter. As you

can see for yourself, the response is very flat,

so that between 80Hz and 8kHz the response is

within ±1.25dB. The low-frequency response is

3dB down at 45Hz, but stays at this level down